Buying the Cruise -- I found the process of booking a Celebrity cruise very confusing, but the cruise itself was great. For the booking, I knew I wanted an aft "FV" cabin. Celebrity markets these directly and through third parties such as Costco. However, a "GTY" FV offered by third parties is not likely an actual FV but it took me a long time reading CruiseCritic and other boards to figure that out as the word "guarantee" is misleading -- with a GTY no specific cabin number is identified and it is much more likely you will be "upgraded" to the much smaller "Concierge" class cabin, which actually lacks both a concierge and a concierge lounge, than receive the very popular FV cabin when you actually check in. Booking directly with Celebrity appeared to be my best option, however, their call center said "Revenue" had not "released" such a cabin for a party of four yet. I had to press that my party will be spending a considerable sum with Celebrity, but my understanding is Celebrity holds these cabins to see if they can get a party of five. Just as I was about to book a different cruise with Princess, Celebrity called me back and released the FV cabin 8166 and we booked on the spot. I was left however, with a lingering fear we might get bumped at check in by this process as nothing is legally guaranteed until you get your room keys, and it was confusing how to book these cabins largely due to Celebrity's opaque marketing up front. I'd recommend Celebrity alter this process to make it easier and more transparent to the consumer from beginning to end.

Vancouver -- Highly recommend Grouse Mountain -- actually this was a highlight of the entire trip. They pick you up at Canada Place and you can take a taxi or bus/water taxi back. Restaurant on top, cable car up, chair lift at 800 feet, aviary, bear, wolf and lumberjack show all not to be missed. Stayed at Fairmont Vancouver and although it's a little older and cheaper than waterfront they were very nice and dogs in lobby was a treat for the kids. Great location a couple of blocks up hill from Canada Place, and walking distance to Gastown District worth seeing too.

Embarkation -- The lines at Canada Place were short and the staff was relatively pleasant, but there is no need to purchase a "paper ticket" from Celebrity as it is not recognized by their staff at check in. If you don't have express check in print outs even if you input the data online, the paper ticket gets you nothing so save the $35 fee and just check in online and print that out before you arrive. We were greeted with a glass of champagne upon boarding which was a nice touch. As we chose "Select" dining, we walked directly to the matre d reservation center upon boarding the ship, only to find out all main dining "Select" dining reservations were taken (evidently reserved online) between 6:30 and 8:00pm. As we had our 8 and 10 year old boys with us, that was very troubling. We didn't even know you could book main dining room Select reservations in advance online or otherwise. Recommend Celebrity clarify the reservation process for main dining room Select dining. Read more